Lath Wood DIY Cutting Board

We recently renovated our kitchen and part of the demolition involved removing old lath and plaster from inside the walls. I had our contractor save me a bundle so I could explore what could be done with it. First up, a cutting board I made as a Christmas gift for Connie. Overall, it took a handful of nights over a week-and-a-half to put together and, given the only power tool I used was a hand sander, I'm super happy with the end product (and so is Connie -- she wants more!).

As a bonus, here's a time-lapse video of me hand sawing straight down the middle of the glued together slats. PRO TIP: Wood glue is like cement to cut through. :)

Testing a couple small pieces of lath wood to see if a sanded or unsanded surface would glue together better.

Example of sanded versus unsanded lath wood.

Makes quite a difference!

All the [hand] sanded wood.

I thought about a flat, brick laid-style layout for the wood.

But settled on this edge-on design.

Here, the pieces are all glued together after being clamped in my jig to keep things straight and level.

Next jig setup so I can cut straight down the middle to double the size of the cutting board but also to create a smoother surface for the final product.

Cut along the line. Simple enough, right? Boy, that wood glue is like cement!

After an hour of sawing.

Finally made it through the next day!

The cutting board surface (with only a minor botch from cutting in the upper right corner).

Time to glue and clamp the two halves together.

Here's the cutting board with the surface sanded.

(I left the bottom side rough but not splintery for effect)

Mineral oil applied and it's ready for use in the kitchen it came from!

Marked it with the year with the tip of my soldering iron (yes, upside down, I know).